Earth Day 2013

A little early to start this thread, but with the house parties, etc. going on, thought it would be a great time to start capturing information for all the new Model S owners. You will have the opportunity to participate in a lot of events. April is the busiest, with every municipality/college/whatever celebrating Earth Day. If you haven't found your local EV group yet (it's not all about Tesla), check with PlugIn America.

I'll add links to the regional threads here, as people post events, so everyone can easily find what is going on in their area. Please use this thread to post tips for everyone and use the regional threads for local events.

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I'll start with some tips, please add your own ...

Stop by your local Tesla store and pick up a large stack of Tesla brochures for each event. With the Roadster, I had one brochure open, secured with tape, and sitting on top of the PEM, with a stack of brochures next to it. This meant that people could help themselves if I was talking to someone else.

I typically plug in my 110 charger, leaving the wall end under the car. This is good for saying 'yep, it's electric'.

Think ahead about any valuables you may have in your car. People want to explore.

Most people assume these are dealer cars & not privately-owned. This means they jump in without permission, open things, poke around. Many people put a sign on the windshield, saying 'Privately owned, please ask first'.

I inadvertently found a good solution to kids climbing all over the car - I filled it with balloons. It was a nice way to say 'no, please don't climb in my Roadster'. And it looked kind of cool.

Know your car. I always have a 18650 battery with me (bought at the local electronics store for about $10), so I can show them what is powering the car. Very few people ask highly technical questions ... it's going to be 'really, no gas?' 'how far can you go?' etc. There will be the folks who are sure EVs are a bad way to go. I usually just laugh when someone brings up the whole 'long tail pipe' argument and say, 'Yes, that's a common response, but it's just not true' and then follow up with a few facts. They never want to continue past there.

Have some cool facts ready. Find out the stats for your local area rollercoaster. "Disneyland's California Screamin' is 0-55mph is 4.0 seconds. And the Roadster ..."

Might want to print out a chart showing charging times for different sources. "How long does it take to charge?" is probably the most common question. I always start with 'Really, no time. When I get home, I plug it in on my way into the house & it's always fully charged in the morning." And then I talk about roadtrips, iphone apps that show me where to charge, etc. If I were a Model S owner, I'd also have a map of the Supercharger network and talk about that. Ask people how often they drive more than a few hundred miles in a day. Get them thinking about what kind of range they really need. Most don't think about the fact they can charge at home every night - most are thinking 'well how many days can I go on a charge and then where do I plug in and how long will it take?' They're still on the gas station model.

Your car will have fingerprints - I usually have some Zaino spray, glass cleaner, and clean microfiber clothes.

It's hot out in the sun all day. Hat. Water. Sunscreen. Other people will be there showing their cars. You will be able to take plenty of breaks while they watch your car (and same for them).

And it's a LOT of fun. I highly encourage participating in these events. You meet lots of people.

The idea came to Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, after witnessing the ravages of the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. Inspired by the student anti-war movement, he realized that if he could infuse that energy with an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution, it would force environmental protection onto the national political agenda. Senator Nelson announced the idea for a “national teach-in on the environment” to the national media; persuaded Pete McCloskey, a conservation-minded Republican Congressman, to serve as his co-chair; and recruited Denis Hayes as national coordinator. Hayes built a national staff of 85 to promote events across the land.

ation model.
[*]Your car will have fingerprints - I usually have some Zaino spray, glass cleaner, and clean microfiber clothes.
[*]It's hot out in the sun all day. Hat. Water. Sunscreen. Other people will be there showing their cars. You will be able to take plenty of breaks while they watch your car (and same for them).
[/LIST]

And it's a LOT of fun. I highly encourage participating in these events. You meet lots of people.

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Two more things that I might consider highly desirable. We bought a 10x10 folding canopy for about $65 at BIG 5. And we have a folding rocker and folding chairs so people can sit down and "visit". Small bottles of water aren't too expensive and invite conversation. Yeah, the Model S has more room to haul junk like that, but it is nice. We parked next to a Roadster last year and shared our "junk". It is always a great time.

Arcata, CA earth day EV's
there were 2 sparrows (I liked the purple color better than the yellow:wink
5 or so Leaves, an upgraded Prius, several older conversions and a Mitsubishi that happened to drive by near the end of the EVent but didn't know there was a thingy going on
Pretty nicely Brazed 4 wheel electric bicycle and a electric offroad skateboard
plus a disabled person's tesla roadster vehicle, or so it said it was:tongue:cute

Journalism 101
a news reporter started looking at the MT article I had in my frunk and began writing down that my car was an E63(which it is compared to in the article), I walked up next to him and asked what he was writing? he said it is a BMW right?.. I said ' What? are you writing that? No, ...'... wow! then I think he realized it was in fact my car..after my wife had just told him less than a minute ago..while he was taking a picture of some other guy who was looking in the funk and told the reporter it was A BMW! Then he wrote down the other guys name without asking if it was his car. My wife heard this and said it is my husbands car and he is over there but they didn't listen. Pay attention, yo! I was trying to tell him what the car actually was and he was writing nonsense and not 'listening'. It took forever for him to get the car type correct. now i understand why there is so much bad journalism and articles.

We had a good showing in Balboa Park, San Diego. I had my Rav4 EV, and there was one Tesla Signature P85. Fiat had two of the new 500e's, the public utility brought a LEAF, there were a bunch of homebuilt EVs, and two EV race cars; a BMW M3, and a Baja Off Road Racer:

The mayor gave a talk in front of the old electric trolley car that was used in San Diego in the early part of the 1900's. They plan to put in back in service by restoring the coach part, except the drive train will be batteries and electric motor(s), and at the trolley stops it will have inductive charging. No overhead wires as the original had. San Diego Auto Museum to the right and Air and Space Museum in the center rear.